A 25-year-old woman, missing in the Alabama wilderness for the past 28 days, has been found alive by a driver on Highway 82 in Midway, reported WSFA. Her family and the authorities are calling it a miracle.
The woman, Lisa Theris, a radiology student, was able to find the highway amongst thousands of acres of dense forest where the driver found her around 2pm on Saturday, Aug. 12. The driver said she saw “something moving in the bushes” and stopped to have a look.
Bullock and Barbour county residents and authorities had been on alert for Theris after her family reported her missing on July 23. A massive search effort with assistance from K-9 units had been working to comb the dense forest without success.
Theris had no shoes, phone or purse, reported WSFA. She managed to survive on berries and mushrooms, drinking from creeks and puddles.
Theris told local authorities that she did her best to continue moving each day, although a lack of sustenance meant she was disorientated, at times walking in circles, reported the Daily Mail. She lost 50 pounds from the ordeal.
“The bugs had really been on her and she had a lot of scratch marks. We didn’t ask her too many questions. We want to make sure her health is good so we got her on to the hospital. We did not interrogate her at that time,” said Sheriff Rodgers according to MS News Now.
Theris was reunited with her family in the local emergency ward, and returned home on Monday to continue her healing.
“She has some complications and has a lot of healing to get through but she is standing strong and full of jokes as ever,” said her brother Will. “The next few weeks will be rough, but she is handling it all like a trooper and our family will continue to do all we can to help. We are very thankful for everyone’s thoughts and prayers.”
Deputies have since revealed that two men who were the last to see Theris before she went missing have recently been arrested and charged with the burglary of a Midway hunting lodge. Theris knew the men, but authorities say she was not aware that the men were intent on the burglary. Randall Wade Oswald, 36, and Manly Davis, 31, are reported to have stolen $40,000 worth of items including ATVs and a chainsaws, according to Daily Mail.
Authorities say that Theris was not involved in the burglary. The men have not been implicated for her disappearance, but remain persons of interest in Theris’s case.
“It’s a relief to all of us. We put a lot of man hours into this case to find her and this is a really good outcome,” said lead investigator on the case, Sgt. Chad Faulkner, according to WSFA. “Her will to live was strong… It’s a miracle.”